Lost Ladies of Lit

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A literary icon in her native Hungary, Magda Szabó was relatively unknown to English-speaking readers until recent translations of her work opened the door to her powerful storytelling. In today’s episode we focus on her 1970 novel Abigail, which follows a headstrong teenager at an all-girls boarding school during WWII. Dangerous secrets, emotional complexity and an unexpected guardian angel add intrigue to this poignant coming-of-age tale. Our guest, Deborah H. Sussman of the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, brings her perspective as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor to our discussion about preserving innocence in the midst of darkness.
Mentioned in this episode:
Abigail by Magda Szabó
The Door by Magda Szabó
Len Rix translations of Magda Szabó
Photos of the Dóczy High School of the Debrecen Reformed College which inspired Matula Academy
Magda Szabó Memorial House museum
“More Than a Survivor” by Deborah H. Sussman
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Holdovers
The Sound of Music
2015 Musical production of Abigél from Ady Teátrum
Trailer for Abigél 1978 miniseries for Hungarian television
2012 film adaptation of The Door starring Helen Mirren

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Pass the smelling salts! Readers of the Victorian Era eagerly (or furtively) set scruples aside to read Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret — the title of which was enough to tempt even the most puritanical schoolmarm into sneaking a peak. But it was Braddon’s sumptuous prose, eye for drama and sophisticated understanding of social mores which won her the admiration of contemporaries like William Makepiece Thackery, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Louis Stevenson. Booklist reviewer and television writer Kristine Huntley joins us this week to discuss Braddon’s remarkable prowess in navigating scandalous secrets … including her own!
Mentioned in this episode:
2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist and longlist
Booklist
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
“Abducted by my Teacher” Lifetime movie
“Freakish” on Hulu
“Mind Games” on ABC
“Two Sentence Horror Stories” on the CW
The real case that partially inspired Lady Audley’s Secret
John Maxwell
Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Doctor’s Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Trail of the Serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Three Times Dead by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 268 on Rosalind Ashe
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Her Life in Ink, a brand new biography by Sharon Harris about Elizabeth Garver Jordan, provides a good reason to plunder our podcast vault this week to revisit an episode about this star journalist, editor and mystery author. Jordan’s riveting coverage of the Lizzie Borden trial for The New York World captivated true-crime junkies of the late 19th-century, and her lengthy career as a journalist, fiction writer and literary editor still resonates today. Lori Harrison-Kahan and Jane Carr, editors of a brand new collection of Garver Jordan’s work, join us to discuss her courtroom dispatches, her connection to today’s #MeToo movement and how her “invisible labor” shaped the writing of literary giants like Sinclair Lewis and Henry James. 
Mentioned in this Episode
ASU/FIDM screening of Virginia Faulkner's "Bridal Suite" followed by a Q&A with Brad Bigelow
Her Life in Ink: Elizabeth Jordan, Journalist, Editor and Mystery Author by Sharon Harris 
The Case of Lizzie Borden & Other Writings by Jane Carr and Lori Harrison-Kahan
Elizabeth Garver Jordan’s work:
The Sturdy Oak
The Whole Family 
The Lady of Pentlands
Three Rousing Cheers
“Ruth Herrick’s Assignment”
“The Cry of the Pack”
The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson
Heirs of Yesterday by Emma Wolf
The New York World
Nellie Bly
The Lizzie Borden case
The Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, Mass.
Harper’s Bazaar
Harper and Brothers

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“Queen of the Dunes” Hazel Hawthorne was a Cape Cod legend who wrote about The Road nearly two decades before her one-time tenant, Jack Kerouac. A uniquely feminine precursor to Beat literature, her novel Salt House captures Bohemian life amid the sand dunes of Provincetown. Though largely dismissed upon its 1934 publication, the book has been re-plucked from obscurity thanks to a new reissue by Provincetown Arts Press. Guests Allison Bass-Riccio and Livia Tenzer join us to discuss the almost transcendental effect Hawthorne’s life and writing has on those who continue to discover her.
Mentioned in this episode:
Salt House by Hazel Hawthorne
Provincetown Arts
Tour the Dunes of Provincetown
Peaked Hill Trust Writing Residency
Three Women by Hazel Hawthorne
Edmund Wilson
Mary Heaton Vorse
Eugene O’Neill
The Provincetown Players
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Finding Hazel Hawthorne podcast by Inka Leisma
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 150 on Elizabeth Smart

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In this encore presentation, Kim and Amy take stock by dusting off a "New Year’s" episode from 1921, sharing secrets of what makes their writing partnership work and turning to famous women writers — including Nancy Mitford, Isabelle Allende, Anais Nin and more for advice on setting (and more importantly, accomplishing) one's goals.

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